Ben Ainslie Racing Challenges Spinlock Projects Team

Spinlock are excited to be selected as
the Official Technical Supplier of Personal Protective Equipment to
the Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) team, in support of the team in their goal to win
the 35th America’s Cup for Great Britain.

With the partnership spanning three years encompassing the 35th
America’s Cup final in 2017, Spinlock will be working with a specialist team at
BAR to develop a set of personal protective equipment for the sailors, racing
both on the AC45 and AC62.

Spinlock are revealing few details of the special crew protection
technology they are developing for the British entry, but they will be
incorporating not only essential safety equipment in the design, but also
engineering the equipment to allow the crew to perform at the highest level of
athleticism.

In a brief statement, BAR Sailing Team
Manager, Jono Macbeth, a three times America’s Cup winner, commented, Protection of the eight crew on
the new AC62 absolutely has to be our first concern. Speeds in excess of 40
knots plus are challenging for the sailors, incidents almost a given and
managing risk vital. We are especially pleased to be working with Spinlock who
we know will be developing equipment to give the crew the peace of mind that
they are best prepared for any eventuality, leaving the team focused on racing
the boat to the optimum.”

BAR crews will be training wearing Spinlock’s new 2015 season
‘WING’ buoyancy aid on-board the Nacra 20, AC45 and Extreme 40, trialling
modifications to incorporate into the final PFDs for racing on-board the AC62.

Support crews and guests will be wearing Spinlock’s latest
ultra-lightweight Deckvest LITE lifejacket, which offers wearers not only
ultimate comfort for long periods, but is coupled with a design that reflects
the modern sport of sailing.

Spinlock Chief Executive Chris Hill comments; “Spinlock have a
long history with the America’s Cup spanning 40 years with our deck hardware
range, with several products in the current range first commissioned for AC
Teams. Spinlock entered the market for personal flotation ten years ago using
our experience as a design-led company to quickly advance lifejacket design
into modern sports equipment. With the BAR Team we will be using the influence
of other high speed, high impact and high agility sports to develop personal
protective equipment for this new generation of sailing machines.”